Monday, January 12, 2009 Editorial: Rice prices protected?
THE National Government has come out with assurances that despite possible rice price increases, it has already measures in place to ensure that it does not.
That's reassuring indeed, if only we see more rice fields being plowed.
Sometime last year, at the height of rice crisis, several government officials were saying that they intend to go slow on rice land conversion, as it was seen as among the reasons for the huge drop in rice harvest in the past decade. Well said.
But the prices are relatively stable now, will the same edict stand or will the come-on of vast rice lands, all flattened and ready for use in whatever development project, be too enticing to resist as yet another investor woes landowners to sell for yet another subdivision, plantation, or industrial development project.
Since the prices have stabilized, however, not one government official has announced any solid move -- executive order or a legislation that makes it difficult to convert rice lands into some other use. After all, a stable rice price will mean a not so profitable rice land.
After all, the fact that rice lands are mostly in plains make them prime property for residential and commercial use.
The problem is not just about making sure that rice prices will not go up’ it is in ensuring that rice farming remains profitable. It's a contest of value; a property of less value will stand to lose to one that promises a lot, even in just the short term.
What government has done to ensure that rice farming remains profitable for the ordinary farmer, however, has never been apparent. Otherwise, those ordinary farmers would have long acquired more lands to plant rice in and gotten rich in the process.
But no, under the present situation, rice lands of poor farmers have become the commodity with which they trade with -- as collaterals for loans whether from a formal financing institution, friendly neighborhood shark, neighboring landlord, or rice traders -- the rice harvest being just for sustenance on a quarterly basis.
